Inside Corsio’s Los Angeles safe house, a back room serves as an office. The blinds cut the afternoon into narrow bars across maps, phones, and sealed folders.
Corsio Angelico
The High Table is shifting its arrangements across the city. They want 7 Aces ready before the police notice anything has changed.
Corsio Angelico stands behind the desk, his broad shoulders filling the dim space. One hand rests on a folder marked with several addresses.
Corsio Angelico
This is not a simple robbery, Jesse. It is leverage. The people involved believe distance protects them, and the Table wants that belief removed.
Through the half-open door, John Cavier leans against a workbench, smoking beside stacked ammunition crates. He watches the office with open impatience.
John Cavier
If this is another lecture about patience, Corsio, save it. Some of us have been waiting since sunrise.
Corsio Angelico
You will wait until I finish. Jesse gets the details first, because this assignment carries the Table’s attention.
✓ Quest Accepted
Get 7 Aces ready
“Corsio i will do this but it’s the last one. Besides the table wants a bank robbed and none of these guys have experience robbing banks. I vote we knock over a small joint in the middle of butt fuck nowhere and then we make preparations for the big one.”
FAILURE (Mediocre Diplomacy, rolled +0)
Jesse
I'll do this, Corsio, but it's the last one. The Table wants a bank hit, and none of these guys know banks. I say we start small, somewhere remote, then prepare for the big one.
John’s cigarette pauses halfway to his mouth. Corsio studies Jesse across the folder, then turns one photograph around, revealing a quiet rural credit union outside Los Angeles.
Corsio Angelico
A small joint in the middle of nowhere is still a robbery. The Table will not authorize a practice run, and this location is already watched.
John Cavier
So the kid wants to turn a bank job into a lesson plan. Convenient. Maybe he can teach us all how to get caught.
Corsio closes the folder instead of sliding it across the desk. The proposed robbery is finished before it reaches the planning stage, but the photograph remains visible.
Corsio Angelico
You get no remote warm-up. You do get reconnaissance on this credit union, with no robbery attached. Learn the structure, the pressure points, and whether the Table’s information is sound.
Corsio Angelico
If Jesse can accept preparation without control, he may still be useful for the real assignment.
✓ Quest Accepted
Reconnoiter the rural credit union
“Corsio the fact is we don’t have the funds to hit this place. We’re looking at 6 million minnimum for all the equipment plus’s a fair share for my crew. If you don’t authorize hitting this small bank just 3 hours up north then this big one will be a failure. I will not accept doing a job without the proper equipment if you want it done it has to be done my way or consider someone else.”
SUCCESS (Good Willpower, rolled +2)
Jesse
Corsio, we do not have the funds for this. Equipment and a fair share for my crew will cost at least six million.
Jesse
If you refuse authorization for the small bank three hours north, the larger job will fail. I will not accept doing it without proper equipment. It happens my way, or find someone else.
The office goes still. John’s cigarette burns unattended while Corsio’s fingers press against the closed folder, weighing the demand against the Table’s timetable.
Corsio Angelico
You are confusing defiance with preparation. But your numbers are sound, and a failed major operation would cost more than this concession.
John Cavier
You hear that? He gets to redraw the assignment because he made a speech. That is one expensive lesson.
Corsio Angelico
Authorization is granted for the rural credit union. Reconnaissance becomes an operation, under strict limits. The larger job waits until the equipment is secured.
Corsio tears the authorization page from the folder and signs it. The cost arrives immediately: the signature spends 7 Aces’ emergency reserve, leaving no margin for mistakes.
“Corsio im gonna go solo on a reconnaissance mission to the north shire community bank. I will scout for cameras, exit points, guards and possible safe entry points. I will go under the disguise as a vault security professional I should still have equipment from my last job.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Stealth, rolled -1)
Jesse
Corsio, I’m going solo to North Shire Community Bank. I’ll scout cameras, exits, guards, and safe entry points under my vault-security disguise.
Corsio Angelico
Stay within reconnaissance. Bring back a complete picture, not a second operation.
Jesse retrieves the remaining vault-security equipment from his last job, changes into a professional uniform, and drives north through Los Angeles traffic toward the rural bank.
At North Shire Community Bank, the disguise gets him inside without drawing attention. He surveys the lobby, noting ceiling cameras, a rear service exit, and the public entrance’s sightlines.
From outside and across the street, Jesse confirms a guard near the customer area, a second camera covering the side approach, and a staff door beside the loading zone.
Jesse
The side approach has the poorest camera coverage, but the loading-zone door is visible from the street.
By dusk, Jesse has mapped the bank’s cameras, exits, guard positions, and viable entry points. He leaves without attempting a robbery, carrying the completed reconnaissance back to the safe house.
Quest Complete
Reconnoiter the rural credit union
Attribute Upgrade: Willpower Good→Great